I tell the story in Fighting for Birds of staying at the house of a grouse moor manager and being given grouse to eat for dinner. I quite like grouse but I prefer pheasant on my plate. There was a bit of an expectant hush as my host and some other guests waited to see my reaction to the profferred food. They all looked a bit deflated when I said ‘If they are good enough for hen harriers then they are good enough for me!’ and tucked in.
But I couldn’t eat a hen harrier – however yummy it might be (and they probably aren’t). Luckily our law-breaking upland residents aren’t scoffing hen harriers or selling them to the local restaurants as a tasty dish to set before tourists. In a way, I wish they were, it would make it all the easier to get people angry about it.
So think how BirdLife Cyprus staff, members and supporters must feel when they see ambelopoulia on local menus. How would you like to settle down to a snack of robins and blackcaps? Would the occasional willow warbler add to the spiciness? What is your favourite songbird meal?
Killing these songbirds is illegal, traditional and people make money out of it. Does that ring any bells?
[registration_form]
If they were maybe you’d be bewailing the Hen Harrier mono culture they had created in then uplands and calling for the preservation of the fast diminishing Grouse population.
Reminds me – when Ed Milliband was getting married recently – he was asked if he likes children –
His reply – “Yes but I couldn’t eat a whole one”
Just shows not everyone thinks like us Mark but from the moment those ladies decided that birds should not be killed for hat plumes the tide has been changing and it may take time but good will prevail over evil especially while we have outspoken campaigners like yourself,well done and keep it up.
Dennis – thank you. If we all speak out then we are a big voice.
Its scary to think that in France the generic name for small birds seems to be ‘Ortolans’ – suggesting they must once have been incredibly common – whilst today its a species you have to hunt for to find just a pair, let alone the dozen they were traditionally served in. We know, and count, rareities and have some idea how things have gone for them over the last century at least but what I find profoundly distressing is that it seems near certain that we’ve decreased many of the commoner birds by orders of magnitude without really realising it.
Someone in Portugal apparently ate a Red-flanked Bluetail: http://jupiterbirding.blogspot.pt/2012/03/bluetail-tale.html
That must have been tasty!
PeterD – crikey!